updated 12:30 pm EDT, Mon July 20, 2009

RIAA declares DRM dead

Long-time proponent of digital rights management (DRM) protection for music files, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has finally acknowledged that DRM has become obsolete, according to a recent report from TorrentFreak. DRM prevents buyers of digital music tracks from copying them to other devices in an attempt to curb illegal copying. But now, with major music retailers abandoning the format to appease the wishes of the paying public, RIAA chief spokesman Jonathan Lamy says the protection's death is now a matter of fact.

"DRM is dead, isn't it?" he said in a magazine interview.

The organization had initially considered protection necessary as it assumed many purchasers would simply redistribute their songs without the guards in place. Some stores selling unprotected music still use watermarks in songs to identify their sources and discourage piracy.

While some services still sell music protected by DRM, such as Nokia's regular and Comes With Music stores, major stores like Apple's iTunes, Amazon, Napster and Walmart have all given up protection in favor of unprotected files that usually play across multiple computer platforms and handheld devices. The withdrawal of DRM from some stores, like MSN Music, has caused problems as the companies threatened to pull the servers authenticating DRM before customers were ready, blocking access to purchased songs for anyone who would have to switch to a new PC or reformat an existing model.

Please rid us of your stupidity, Tom. Copyright has absolutely NOTHING to do with stealing, since it's by definition different from the concept of traditional ownership. Besides, if you think the US idea of "no fair use after the DMCA" is acceptable, you'd better understand that such idiotic legislation does NOT apply to the rest of the world. In fact, still in many of the most civilized countries downloading or use of copyrighted material for personal purposes is absolutely legal...so please chill out before babbling.

I don't have iPhone and my iPod is ancient (big). I like to carry only one thing, my cell phone (LG from Verizon). This is where free DRM comes in handy, I transfered some of my paid iTunes songs to my LG phone via Bluetooth. Now I can make a call plus use it as an iPod alternative without carrying extra stuff in my pocket.

RIAA is saying that DRM is dead. In other words, after all major labels agreed to remove it from iTunes, the remaining DRM-hobbled online stores are irrelevant.

What is important here is that RIAA is confirming that DRM no longer has a purpose. Let's remind ourselves for a moment, the purpose of DRM was to prevent piracy (illegal copying of music files). From the introduction of iTunes Store, Apple continuously claimed that its customers won't illegally pirate the music they buy from iTunes; RIAA didn't believe that and demanded FairPlay DRM, so Apple complied. EMI, in their moment of lucidity, agreed to experiment (under Apple's pressure) and removed DRM from their tracks. And what happened? Nothing bad.

It is now over 6 months since the abolition of DRM from iTunes Store. Labels had plenty of time to see that the DRM-free files are NOT pirated wholesale across torrent and other P2P sites/services. Apple finally proved everyone right, and RIAA is finally admitting this.

Let us hope MPAA learns something from the story (I'm not holding my breath, though...)>

Let's remind ourselves for a moment, the purpose of DRM was to prevent piracy (illegal copying of music files). From the introduction of iTunes Store, Apple continuously claimed that its customers won't illegally pirate the music they buy from iTunes;

They never claimed that. And they'd be stupid to say that. Do you honestly think that, if the music wasn't DRM'd, that it wouldn't have been openly shared? Or that somehow Apple's customers are all above-board honest folks who never once thought about sharing a song?

The did NOT demand Fairplay DRM. They demanded DRM, and Apple created (or bought, I think they bought it from someone) FairPlay. They could just as easily used any other DRM scheme.

EMI, in their moment of lucidity, agreed to experiment (under Apple's pressure) and removed DRM from their tracks. And what happened? Nothing bad.

First off, the other side of the story has EMI working towards doing the non-DRM thing, and Apple, hearing about this, posted their 'open letter' first. It certainly seems unlikely that a label would have responded to an open-letter from Steve Jobs as quickly as they did, if they already weren't working on the details.

It is now over 6 months since the abolition of DRM from iTunes Store. Labels had plenty of time to see that the DRM-free files are NOT pirated wholesale across torrent and other P2P sites/services.

How would they know, if there's no DRM, that it isn't being pirated?

BTW, keep in mind that your iTMS purchases are still watermarked, even though they aren't DRMd. So they can still be tracked.

No, what they are admitting is that they lost. There was no way to push DRM on the simple fact that 90% of their music was already DRM-free (aka CDs). They screwed up 30 years ago when they didn't add encryption to the CD standard.

The movie studios are set, though. They've had DRM from the beginning. Even though DVDs have been cracked, they've now got the DMCA behind them to sue people on (why they needed that, I'm not sure. I think to make it an actual crime vs. a civil case).

I note how everyone gives Steve Jobs and Apple the credit for coming out with the "We don't want DRM" spiel. But how come it took them so long to do this? It seemed to only appear AFTER they had the 90% digital music market, which then fed their iPod sales and such.

And we don't see them offering up tools to easily remove the DRM from your tracks so you can use your existing music anywhere. Oh, right, they want you to 'upgrade' your music for 30 cents a shot.

And, more importantly, how come we don't hear word one from them on videos? Is there some reason that they aren't pressing for DRM-free videos? Is it Steve's ties to Pixar and Disney? Or the fact that they haven't yet garnered a huge share of the video player market yet, and want to make sure people can't play iTMS content on anything but iPods and AppleTVs?

the Movie and TV industries will follow suit. I'm thinking the current DRM on board DVI is pretty annoying. Sorta like, you can buy our sweaters anywhere you have internet access, but you can only wear them when you are using the machine you purchased them from. :P Flawed analogy, I know, but pretty close...